A Message To Comrade Miller

The province is reluctant to bail out Toronto by paying for what are basically provincial responsibilities and here is another example of their reluctance:

Howard Hampton says:An estimated five per cent of police budgets are spent on court security, Hampton said. Uploading court security costs from the cities would free up about $250 million a year for municipal police forces, allowing them to field about 3,000 more officers, he said.

Monte Kwinter says:"Virtually nothing that he has said . . . is new and nothing that we haven't done,'' Kwinter said.The NDP leader's suggestion that cities upload court security costs "makes no sense'' because there's no way to ensure the freed-up money will be earmarked solely for policing, he added. "It sounds good, but he hasn't thought it through.''

Hampton, Tory make anti-crime pitches to police